Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar:
The Last Airbender and am making no money from this story.

Choices

It was an assignment like any other…
Infiltrate and observe. Determine the threat and report back. She had
been coming in the shop regularly for the past week and other than
realizing this was the best tea she ever had, she thought this
mission was a joke… She had been watching the old man and
especially the scarred boy who had fought the young man. And so far
she saw no evidence of anything other than two refugees trying to
start over. There were no firebenders here, no matter what that crazy
teen insisted on. But all rumors must be looked into, so here she
would stay until she had proof to the absolute contrary.

Ying sipped
her tea and narrowed her eyes on the boy who just turned from a
nearby table. He glanced back once before speaking in low tones to
the older man she suspected was the uncle the wild teen mentioned,
grabbing his arm when he turned to look at her. Hrmm, he is acting
strangely… Perhaps I should try a different tactic…

When he turned his back to put her
payment away, she spoke, making sure that her voice had just the
right amount of flirting perkiness and using her most charming smile.
"What's your name?"

He turned to
her in surprise before schooling his features. Interesting...

"My name's
Li. My Uncle and I just moved here.". Is that your real
name, Li?

"Hi Li. My name's Jin." First
rule of the trade… never give your real name. "…thanks and,
well I was wondering if you would like to go out sometime?"

He looked a
bit stunned at her question, but she noticed he didn't blush like
she was expecting. Maybe he is used to girls asking him out. He
has a way about him that is quite attractive. The fluid
way he moved caught her eye more than once over the last week. I
bet he would be a great dancer. They did say that he handled the dual
swords like a master… Hmmm…

His uncle volunteered him and she
made the arrangements.

That night when she came to meet
him, she realized he just must not be prone to blushing because he
clearly had not been on many, if any, dates…

Li looked
slightly ridiculous with his hair slicked down that way, and she just
had to fix it before she could go on. It was softer than she expected
and she reminded herself to not get distracted. Now that she was in
"date mode", as her superior officer liked to call it, she had
loosened her breast bindings. It always seemed to work well to divert
the attention of her marks during questioning. Her fellow agents
called them her "secret weapons". Silly girls. They were
just a means to an end, like every other part of her carefully honed
persona. A role she was growing increasingly weary of playing. She
hid her tired sigh behind a beaming smile.

The restaurant
was nice enough, average for the outer ring. Li gallantly told her to
choose what she wanted; he would take care of dinner. The very first
thing she noticed was how mannerly he was. He didn't shrug her arm
off, although she could tell he was uncomfortable, and he even pulled
out the bench for her to sit. He ate very precisely, almost
elegantly, left hand politely folded in his lap. Odd… But
after he had eaten his fill, the first real signs of nervousness
appeared. The boy hadn't said anything for the last five minutes
and was pushing his food around on his plate. This was a good a time
as any to start her interrogation.

"So, how do you like the city so
far?" She kept her voice light, engaging.

"It's ok."
He didn't look up but continued to push that single meatball around
with his chopsticks. All right, next question...

"What do you like to do for fun?"

"Nothing."

Then the waiter interrupted with a
perfectly innocuous question that got the most interesting reaction
out of him yet.

To hide her surprise at his
outburst, Ying stuffed a large quantity of noodles in her mouth. And
of course Li had to look up at just that moment.

"You have…
quite an appetite for a girl." Oh yes, he's a suave one. No
wonder he's had so many dates…

"Umm,
thanks?" Idiot. The cute ones usually are. Yiiiiing focus! He a
mark and marks are NOT cute!Back to work!

He was twiddling his thumbs now,
apparently embarrassed by his display.

"So Li, where were you and your
uncle living before you came here?"

She knew
evasion when she heard it. Traveling, huh?

"Oh! Why
were you traveling so much?" Yes Li, why? She could see his
gaze flit to her chest from time to time and leaned on the table to
emphasize her cleavage.

When he
haltingly gave his answer, it only reinforced her opinion of him. Li
was a terrible liar. And he was lying, she was sure of it.
Traveling circus? She nearly laughed but still, perhaps he was
telling the truth and was simply embarrassed. A small test was in
order.

Watching his disastrous attempt at
juggling confirmed it for her. He was lying. That meant he really was
hiding something. And she didn't want him to be.

Because she liked him.

But she had a
job to do here and her feelings for this quiet, polite… and so
sad… why so sad? …handsome, even with his scar, …firebending
injury? boy were unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Order
must be maintained. The city must run smoothly. All talk of the war
and the Fire Nation must be obliterated.

There was no war in Ba Sing Se.

The rhetoric never sounded to hollow
to her before.

With a regret that her happy
countenance never revealed, she moved on to the final test.

The Fire Light Fountain.

Which, she knew, would not be lit
tonight. The Dai Li would see to it.

She was
supposed to make a huge deal out of that, even shed a few tears
perhaps, to encourage him to use his bending. But in the end she
could only stand there depressed that she had to do this. This
feels wrong.

It felt even more wrong when he fell
right into the trap.

Peeking from
behind her fingers, at first she felt nothing but a terrible sadness
when she saw him use his gift, …Oh, why Li? Why do you have to
be Fire Nation? Eventually, though, that sorrow turned to awe.
Whoever "Li" really was, he was an incredibly talented bender. He
had all fifty lamps lit in record time, and with a precision that was
amazing. Ying had never seen firebending up close before. The random
attacks on the walls did not permit close perusal, so seeing him
using his bending right in front of her, so close that she could feel
the heat of it, …does he not realize that? was startling.
She had little trouble feigning her surprise when he finally gave her
permission to look.

She was going to have to turn him
in.

By morning he
and his kindly old uncle would be a fading memory. You don't
have to turn them in… The thought flitted through her
head before she could reject it. They aren't hurting anyone….
They just want a new life like everyone else… She was growing
tired of sending poor unfortunate people to the lamp man. Tired of
the guilt that ate away at her when she saw their blank smiling faces
after. She didn't want to do that to this quiet boy with the veiled
pain in his eyes or to the friendly old man whose gentle smile hinted
at a hidden grief. But if she did this… what are you thinking?
and it was discovered later that they were in fact firebenders, at
the worst of it she would find herself on the wrong side of the
"lamp", at best she would look incompetent... and she had worked
so hard to get where she was without having to be brainwashed first…
oops "re-educated" they were calling it now, that to
backslide would be intolerable. Nevertheless, when she looked at his
pleased smirk, she was torn yet again.

Duty, or
something else she wasn't even sure was real or not? She still
didn't know when she pressed her lips to his in a chaste kiss,
hoping he didn't notice her slip in calling his uncle "teacher",
or even when he in turn pressed his soft… and so warm lips
to hers.

It was when he pulled away in shock
that she made her decision.

She only hoped it was the right one.

Fin

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.